Who knew getting a mobile phone in Japan would be so complicated?

P and I had made about 4-5 trips to various shops to look at different models and price plans, but each trip proved futile because I was constantly confused and he wanted to study the packages.

Being without a mobile for three weeks also meant that the only way to get in touch with me was via email and I had to depend on the good old phonecard when I was out on my own.

I eventually decided on a Toshiba 810T because it has an English menu and predictive text message (which is missing from most Japanese phones). I almost got a pink one just because I am in Japan, but I chickened out and got the white model in the end.

And I must confess that I have been a bit of a grouch of late to P, part-PMS and part-"I'm never getting my mobile, am I?" disgruntledness. So imagine my guilt when P ditched work early on Thursday night and missed a network dinner just so I could get my phone! Not only that, he surprised me with a box of teabags from the Lipton's Speciality cafe near his workplace because I haven't been able to find any at the hyaku-yen store. I was so touched I didn't even know what to say.

I watched in amazement as he sat with the salesman for one and a half hourds listening to him explain every clause in the contract for the phone (this is Japan, after all). It was already past 8 and we were both starving, and P never ceased to be patient or polite.

It's times like these I am reminded how unfair it is to him that I moved to Tokyo with my 70 kilos of luggages and took over half his room and wardrobe space, and on top of having to deal with his family, finances and new job, he never stopped caring for me.

Yiro yiro arigato gozaimasu.